LEGENDS IN OUR OWN MINDS

When Sid Blattstein first moved to Florida six years ago, he tried throwing himself into the typical retiree hobbies of golf and tennis.

Blattstein, 66, even skimmed a roster of activities organized by his condominium community, but none of the offerings caught his interest.

Richard Nardiello, 61, can relate. He dabbled in a little of everything, including boating, before resuming a favorite childhood pastime and hitting a home run. And he's not alone.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning year-round, Blattstein, Nardiello and dozens of fellow players in the Boynton Beach Men's Senior Softball League fill ball fields across the city for a little friendly competition and fun.

"This is the thing I like best," Nardiello said.

Senior softball is also gaining popularity beyond Boynton Beach, with almost 2 million men and women over age 55 playing the sport nationwide, said R.B. Thomas, executive director of the Virginia-based International Senior Softball Association.

Still, Boynton Beach's league -- currently 140 men between the ages of 55 and 82 -- is the largest and fastest growing organization in the county, said Andrew Holzinger, an athletic coordinator for Palm Beach County's parks and recreation department.

From now through April, the number of players regularly grabbing bats, balls and gloves again -- some for the first time in decades -- hits its peak with the arrival of seasonal residents, said Blattstein, the league's president.

"We call every snowbird who played last year and ask them, 'When are you coming?'" he said.

The sport also has become so popular among the area's older retirees that they just formed an over-70 league that now has games one day a week in addition to regular league play.

Snowbird Frank Murano, 82, has been playing with the city's league since it was formed in 1978. He had the opportunity to join a Boston Red Sox farm team in 1942 but joined the military instead. He never stopped playing ball, though.

The Boston native competed in the first Senior Softball World Series in Greensboro, N.C., in 1989 and has returned to play in every one since. Murano also takes part in a traveling league. He said Boynton Beach's is the biggest league he has found on Florida's east coast, and he's constantly looking for new teams to try.

"Boynton Beach is really the hotbed right now because they have 10 teams," Murano said.

Blattstein said the league has doubled its number of teams within the past five years, something he considers even more impressive considering that it loses about 10 percent of its players each year to injuries or illness, he said.

Right now, only a few weeks into the winter season, a number of players already are out with pulled muscles and torn rotator cuffs, he said. Typically, the men starting back up again are most injury-prone but they get back into the swing of the game before too long, he said.

Dick Leeds, 71, recalled the first time he played after his 25-year hiatus.

"Someone hit a ground ball and I picked it up and tossed it and the ball only went about two feet," Leeds said. "My muscle memory was gone."

He refers to himself and his teammates as "legends in our own minds.

"The spirit is willing, the mind is willing, but the body ... well, at this age, we could use some spare parts," he teased.

Blattstein said the league takes precautions to ensure safety of its players, some of whom have had knee or hip replacements. They have pinch runners, but, as a point of pride, the men refuse to use them to reach first base.

He attributes the league's success to its philosophy that recreation, exercise and friendship come before competition.

The men are ranked first through 140th at the start of each winter season by the league's nine commissioners and then drafted, Blattstein said. The league's teams also compete just against each other rather than advancing to higher levels of regional play.

That's not to say emotions don't run high during the games.

On a recent Wednesday morning, Tom Dixon, 58, talked the entire time he was off the field.

"They've got the bases loaded and they're bringing in the heavy hitters," said Dixon, who hit five home runs in one game last year. "Oh man, this is a critical point in the game."

Umpire Benjy Beberman called a player safe at second, leading one team to let out screams of protest. Right then, a Boynton Beach police officer cruised by the field at Galaxy Elementary School and announced over his loudspeaker: "He was out by a mile."

"See what kind of abuse I get?" Beberman lamented.

Blattstein conceded that the games often are punctuated with a quite a bit of "good-natured bickering." Afterward, at least a dozen players hang out at Pence Park with a cooler of beer and bags of chips to analyze the morning's games.

Murano and Leeds say the over-70 league is a good idea. They're giving it a try but won't stop playing with the 55-plus league anytime soon because of the close friendships they've formed.

"Your reflexes are not the same, your speed is not the same at this age," said Murano. Still, he insists on playing third base because he considers the outfield "the pastures, the place you go when you get old.

"Once you stop moving, that's it," he said. "You've got to keep moving, that's the name of the game."

Beberman doesn't play, but loves the men he sometimes irks with his calls.

"I had found something was missing from my life," said the umpire, wearing a Boston Red Sox cap. "Until I found out about this team, that is."

For more information about the league, contact Blattstein at 561-733-3183.

Beth P. Krane can be reached at bpkrane@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6631.